Bar Soap: A Rant in Favor

It has recently, and rather forcibly, been brought to my attention that some people object to using bar soap. The reason given is that evidently, bar soap is "germy and gross." Being strongly in favor of economy when practical, I bristled at the thought that my 3-for-less-than-a-dollar bars of soap were somehow inferior to the 1-for-a-dollar bottles of liquid soap. This bristling was particularly stiff because in my previous (similar) living situation, I introduced the bars of soap at the beginning of the school year, and there was still lathering soap left from the three original bars at the end of the year; whereas the year before, I observed that the liquid pump soap was used ineffeciently, dispensing much more soap than needed for one good lather, and quickly was used up. Even using bulk refills was not nearly as cost efficient as the bars of soap were the next year. I will freely admit, announce, whatever, that there was always a bottle of liquid soap on the counter for the few who preferred to use the pump soap. When someone who lives in the same spaces as I began to fuss against bar soap, claiming that "you can't put a price on your health," I decided to do some research online. I discovered that even the websites which aren't entirely in favor of bar soap will admit in the spirit of fairness that bar soap really isn't bad.
Here are the links, reader, so you can decide for yourself and respond:
http://www.slate.com/id/2156843/
http://www.plentymag.com/events/2007/07/dont_drop_the_bar_soap.php
http://chetday.com/antibacterialsoapdanger.htm
http://books.google.com/books?id=DywVZQ9aPDYC&pg=PA310&lpg=PA310&dq=bar+soap+dangers&source=web&ots=1UDVDWRXY6&sig=EMpn_-PhUSnQ4BQonCqBMPDPSWk&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=6&ct=result (for this one, keep reading past the gap in words)
http://conqueringthechallenge.blogspot.com/2007/08/health-and-beauty-dangers-of-common.html
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/hand-washing/HQ00407 (Few, if any, health organizations are as respected as the Mayo Clinic)
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/10/science/10qna.html?_r=2&em&ex=1184558400&en=6df09bb56620f543&ei=5087%0A&oref=slogin&oref=slogin